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Bike ride raises funds for cancer research

With only a month left until the big day, organizers for the first annual Canary Century charity bike ride on the Peninsula are offering incentives to increase participation.

If anyone raises $1,000 in donations or gets five other riders to register in April, that person will automatically receive the bright yellow Canary Century kit, the official jersey and shorts designed for the ride on Saturday, May 28.

The Canary Foundation of Palo Alto is a nonprofit focused on early detection of cancer.

All rides will start between 6 and 9 a.m. and finish by 5 p.m. with a barbecue at the VA Palo Alto HealthCare System at 3801 Miranda Avenue. The planned routes are 100-, 62- and 31-miles long, winding through Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Woodside, to the coast and back, and Portola Valley.

Early registration is encouraged, but riders may sign up on the day of the event. The fee is $100 to register, and each participant must also agree to raise at least $400 in donations.

The Canary Foundation is sponsoring the ride, along with Cervelo, a company based in Toronto that makes high-performance bicycles.

"The Canary Center at Stanford is trying to detect cancer early by blood tests, and follow up with molecular imaging tests," Emily May, Canary Foundation marketing specialist explained, saying, "the research has been ongoing for six years."

She said half of the funds raised on the ride will go to the Canary Center at Stanford and the other half will go toward the Stanford Cancer Center, where comprehensive cancer prevention, screening, treatment and care take place.

Organizers are still looking for local companies to become team sponsors. More than 30 teams and 200 riders have registered so far.

Depending on the donation level, riders are entitled to additional swag such as a custom Cervelo race bike, and/or they are invited to spend more time with celebrity riders, some professional and others amateur. Members of Team Garmin-Cervelo will have just competed in the Amgen Tour of California and plan to ride in the Canary Century. Masters National Champion John Novitsky of Woodside and Stanford Provost John Etchemendy are riding in the charity ride, too.